October 21, 2004

• Oh. Crap. This was my first post and I already screwed up... Stupid, stupid me! It's a Quicktime Movie!!!
• I'm in my mid-30s and I've been gaming for 19 years now (do the math; it's more than half my life). I'm not at all sure how I feel about this. I remember playing D&D (AD&D, 1st ed., natch) in the mid-80s, when I was the only female player in the group, and it wasn't always a fun experience. I know a number of women, including me, who had really horrible experiences back in the day because guys were pigs. I played a few times in women-dominant groups, but still with male GMs, and it was better. (And no, not all gamer guys were pigs. If they were, I wouldn't have kept on, and I certainly wouldn't have married my husband, who is a sweet, sensitive monkey I met at a D&D game!) The guy-in-charge, girls-in-sexy-costumes motif brings some of my uncomfortable experience back. I know being a sexy grrl is the done feminist thing now, but I'm still a little uncomfortable with it. I'm also uncomfortable with the play on geek stereotypes I know aren't true. The other thing this reminds me is that there are few things more boring to me than watching other people game. I'd much rather get out my own dice, thanks!
• I think they're really gamers. There are plenty of good looking gamers (including my roommate), though she prefers video games.
• Humans freak me out sometimes.
• I agree that it's more fun to play the game yourself, than to watch others do it. I just thought the absurdity of the link warranted a post. You don't really realize how geeky it is until you watch it, and I view this video as more satire than a real depcition of a game (i.e. the lame cut scenes). Both myself and my girlfriend have gamed (D&D) religiously, and we are both self-professed geeks. I embrace my geekdom, as does she. It's just that there's nothing wrong in poking fun at yourself once in awhile. Though, with regards to the sexism issue, you do have a point. I didn't even think of that, as I have played many a adventure with women present, and it has never been an issue for either sex. I just don't want my ignorance to be taken as callousness.
• If they're gamers, they're new to it (not that there's anything wrong with that), the thing that aroused my suspicions was when she called it a "Double Magic Missle." (puts on dork hat) That's just a Magic Missile spell cast by a 3rd or 4th level magic user. I've played D&D since High School nad I've never heard that term used. You can have up to 5 magic missles at the appropriate level (if memory serves me right for 3rd edition), which you would be remiss to refer to as, Quintople Magic Missle. (take off dork hat) Go Red Sox!!! (now I'm a man again, I referenced sports!)
• Yeah, I thought the "Double Magic Missile" was weird, too, Debaser626. *offers banana for being dorky in public* About the sexism, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with or upsetting about what they're doing. It just punches some of my buttons, that's all. My experiences are a lot better these days, and not just because I unleash my Tongue of Lashing +5 and Alice's Fist of Smiting Death on anyone who pulls that crap. I thought the link was worthwhile to see and talk about. FWIW, I posted the link to the group gaming blog I belong to, the 20x20 Room (semi-gratuituous sorta selflink), and will probably pass it around to other gaming circles I belong to. I'm so glad to know that the gamer tribe is represented among the monkeys!
• I spent practically every waking hour of my teenage life gaming, and miss it now that I'm married and moved away from the guys I spent oh so many long hours procrastinating schoolwork with.
• You mean to tell me that girls play this, now? Fuck. And there I was, being socially ostracised as a teenager. What advances medical science hath made.
• I still game, and I wish I could see this link. Stupid dialup.
• Of course, you realize that this is the end of civilization as we know it. Not women playing D&D, but really, really bad PBS shows of women playing D&D. I was wondering when it was going to happen. Thank God the suspense is finally over.
• I've been hooked on gaming since the original D&D came out. I was often the only girl in the gaming group for most of the years I played. I guess I was lucky, though. The guys I gamed with (with one exception) were not pigs and it didn't suddenly turn into Gonad the Sex Barbarian and the Barely-Dressed Nymph in Need of Rescuing Every Half Hour. Of course, that might have been because I had a reputation at the time that terrified them into not stepping out of line. I miss gaming. My group decided that what they really loved was playing a vampire LARP. And running around the streets of downtown all night during winter made neither me nor my arthritis happy. LARPs are not for me. Games where we could sit down disappeared almost completely. I've been going through gaming withdrawals for several years now.
• They might as well just do a show about live action roleplaying and have done with it.
• I wanted to play RPG when I was in high school, but the boys I knew that played would never let me in because "it's guy stuff." Then they wondered why they never dated.
• Funny enough the guys I gamed with constituted a good portion of the High school Football team including the QB. Still, it didn't do much for the "Geek" label.
• It's Public Access and it's in the early stages, I think the show has a lot of potential, but then I'm involved in RPGMP3.com. One thing that does become clear is it's things like this that can draw people back into the game, or at least keep them in touch.